Danny Desai

“	It's always been you, Jo.	”
	— Danny to Jo in The Tale of Two Confessions.


Danny Desai
Character
Biographical Information
Status:	Alive
Age:	16 years old
Home:	Green Grove
Affiliation:	Student
Occupation:	Green Grove High School
Physical Description
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Eye color:	Brown
Relationships
Relatives:	Karen Desai (Mom) Vikram Desai (Dad) † Tara Desai (Aunt) † Unnamed Grandmother Charlie McBride (Adoptive cousin)
Allies:	Jo Masterson (Best Friend, In Love With) Lacey Porter (Ex-Girlfriend) Regina Crane (Acqaintance, Crushee) † Whitney Taylor (childhood friend) Rico (Friend, Rival) Cole (Friend, Teammate) Andie Dang (Acquaintance)
Enemies:	Archie Yates (Teammate, Rival) Gloria Crane Scott (Teammate, Enemy) Sarita Charlie McBride (Old Cellmate, Former Friend)
Show Information
Portrayed by:	Avan Jogia
First appearance:	"Pilot"
Relevant Pages
GALLERY

Daniel "Danny" Desai is a 16-year-old alleged murderer and sociopath. At age 11, his father, Vikram Desai, murdered his own sister, Tara Desai, while she babysat Danny, Jo Masterson and Lacey Porter. Danny was wrongly convicted and placed in a juvenile detention facility for the crime because his father convinced him to take the blame for it. Since Danny idolized his father, he confessed to the murder he did not commit and was put into custody for 5 years before he returns home. Days after returning to school, Regina Crane comes onto him sexually and claims to know why he murdered his aunt while wearing the Tara's necklace. He faces new accusations when she is murdered in her home after a party. He is determined to do whatever it takes to clear his name with the help of Jo and Rico. He is known to have idolized his father, Vikram Desai, despite the possibility that he was truly a bad man. While his relationship with his mother, Karen Desai, has been rough with neglect and trust issues. He is having trouble coping with the fact his father was presumed dead five months before his return to Green Grove, a place he never even wanted to come back to. He claims he just wants to start over.

He has made enemies with many citizens of the town, notably Archie Yates, Sarita, Tim, and Jo's father Kyle Masterson. Despite making an enemy in Jo's father, her mother Tess Masterson is warming up to the boy. Danny developed feelings for Lacey early on and they secretly dated after she broke up with Archie then got back together in Home Is Where the Hurt Is. They broke up again in The Son Also Falls after Danny admitted he had been hiding from her the fact that he killed his own father, and Jo's involvement in the murder. With this revelation, Lacey became convinced Danny has feelings for Jo, and subsequently ended things with him. Up until this point, Danny has been aware of Jo's obvious romantic attraction to him, but never reciprocated it. Danny became unsettled when his former juvie cell mate, Charlie McBride, came to Green Grove and began to pursue a relationship with Jo. In Danny, Interrupted, his dislike of Charlie is revealed to be not only because he fears he's dangerous and trying to steal his life, but because he does, indeed, have romantic feelings for Jo.

Danny Desai is portrayed by Avan Jogia.

Biography

He was best friends with Jo and Lacey since his early childhood. He seems to have had the typical family life with a loving mother and father along with his Aunt Tara who was implied to have been in the picture. However, he soon began acting strange when he was 11 years old, becoming more quiet and mute, as noticed by Jo and Lacey. One day at his house, the two contemplated why there was an abrupt change in his behavior. Lacey suggested puberty while Jo thought it may have been family problems. While they talked, Danny was watching them from an upstairs window.

When Jo and Lacey are playing on the swing set outside, he went inside his house saw his dad Vikram with a red jump rope with his Aunt Tara lying on the floor after strangling her to death while she was baby-sitting them. so he gives Danny the jump rope and has him come outside to Lacey and Jo, in a daze, and says that he had no choice and "had to" not unbeknownst to Jo and Lacey that his father is the real killer so thinking Danny actually killed her they soon end up coming across his aunt's dead body, severely traumatizing them both. Danny was soon charged with his father's crime and arrested for his aunt's murder that he did not commit, silently refusing to tell anyone why he did it until Dead Men Tell Big Tales. Nobody knows if he is truly a sociopath or not. He might be very good at mimicking emotions (like most sociopaths) which is why he can get Jo to trust him so quickly. But this is yet to be determined.

Personality

Danny is confident, charismatic and convincing. He also has a very good poker face and is a very good liar. He attracts people very easily.

He is shown to be nice and friendly to his friends, but can be mysterious, since he did not want to tell anybody the real reason his aunt died. He shows a sensitive side at times.

Physical Appearance

Throughout the series, Danny typically wears dark and solid colored clothes. He also wears a t-shirt or a long-sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. At times, he is seen wearing an army jacket. He has long, luscious dark brown/black hair that is usually tied back into a low ponytail, but it's often loose at home. He has light facial scruff including a sparse goatee. His eyes are dark brown and his natural skin tone is light brown/tan in color reflecting his half Indian heritage. He's considered universally very attractive by everybody. He is in good shape, well-muscled and handsome.

Relationships

Lacey Porter

Main article: Danny and Lacey

Lacey and Danny have been friends since childhood. When Danny supposedly killed his aunt, Lacey lost her trust in him. When Danny returns to Green Grove five years later, Lacey, now a popular girl with a full social life, is very hesitant to trust him, but Danny still tries to rekindle their old friendship. Danny has an obvious romantic attraction to Lacey as evidenced by him gazing intently at Lacey, constantly asking about her, and almost sharing

a kiss in the Pilot. Their chemistry comes to a head in The Fest and the Furious (episode 5) as Lacey realizes she is attracted to Danny as well and they end up kissing. They are secretly dating at the end of episode seven and are video-taped by an unknown, masked prankster in a moment of intimacy on Danny's couch at the end of episode eight , then they find out later it was one of their "friends". Lacey broke up with Danny at the end of episode nine after she discovers Danny was still keeping more secrets. Danny admitted to Jo that he still has feelings for Lacey when she confronts him but as of now they are currently broken up.

Karen Desai

Main article: Karen and Danny

Karen is Danny's mother. She is struggling

in her relationship with her son. She wants to help him but he accuses her of neglecting him in his younger years. Nevertheless, she believes that he is innocent. It was revealed that she tried to get the Matersons to have Jo trial for Danny. She had lost her son for 5 years but is trying to have a better relationship with him now.

Jo Masterson

Main article: Danny and Jo

Jo is Danny's best friend from childhood but their friendship was ruined when his dad had killed his aunt when they were kids. When returning to town after five years, Danny tries to reconnect with Jo but she feels that she can't trust him. Feeling that she is the only one who understands him and knows him better than anybody, he regains her trust when protecting her from a guy that was 'having fun' with her while she was drunk at a party. She now believes in him and decides to prove that he is innocent. Jo tells him that, "I couldn't help you five years ago, but I can now." In Poison of Interest she confesses to being in love with Danny in front of the whole school, despite him having no romantic inclinations towards her at first but since Charlie an old enemy from his past came to Green Grove and started hanging out with Jo in The Son Also Falls, but in Danny, Interrupted, Charlie, is proven to be a psychopath who has always wanted Danny's life and that he has always been in love with Jo so he always had pictures of her in his room, so she leaves and breaks up with him because she still has feelings for Danny but it is proven in the episode that Danny does have romantic feelings for her.

Regina Crane

Main article: Danny and Regina

Regina was shown to wear the same necklace as Terra Desai, and was the only person not afraid of Danny when he returned. She comes onto him sexually in multiple attempts to get him alone. After texting him the truth that she knows why he killed Tara and that's why she needs to see him, she was found murdered the next morning. In the summer finale the murder weapon used to kill her was found, and, according to the police it had Danny's fingerprints all over it. Although the weapon is highly incriminating it isn't known if he killed Regina or if he just touched the soon-to-be murder weapon.

Archie Yates

Main article: Danny and Archie

Archie is the ex-boyfriend of Lacey and main rival of Danny, despite bullying him in the halls. Archie believes fully that Danny murdered Regina.

Kyle Masterson

Main article: Kyle and Danny

Kyle (incorrectly) believes that Danny is guilty in the murder of Regina Crane and doesn't trust him despite his daughter's close friendship with him.

Rico

Main article: Danny and Rico

Rico trusted Danny due to Jo's faith in him but after feeling like he is stealing Jo from him and seeing Danny's mom Karen Desai throw Regina/Tara's necklace into the lake, doubts him and tells Chief Masterson what he knows. Rico and Danny are cordial to each other again in Docu-Trauma.

Appearances

Season 1

Trivia

He hasn't told anyone not even the police the real reason why his aunt Tara died 5 years ago. When asked about it by Jo, he insists he couldn't tell because he was protecting her by not telling. He also implies that even if he does tell it will affect the entire town, saying no one will get over it. Later he says that he did it because she was going to ruin his family because she and his father had their problems, but it is revealed in Home Is Where the Hurt Is that he did not kill his Aunt Tara while she was babysitting him, Jo & Lacey that his father was responsible for her death and made him take the blame for his own crime his son did not commit.
He might be a sociopath (sociopaths are very charismatic and good at mimicking emotions) although this is yet to be determined.
The necklace Regina wore before she died belonged to Danny's aunt. He is later seen in the Pilot episode, hiding it in his room before taking it out to avoid being found. He later tells his mother that someone left it in his locker the day after Regina's murder. That "someone" is still unknown.
He was in juvie for five years.
When questioned by Kyle Masterson as to why he didn't respond to Regina's booty call, he said he was saving himself for someone special.
He is very strong and a quick and clever fighter, probably skills learned in juvie (he easily beats Archie in a fistfight he contributed to in Grief Is a Five Letter Word.).
The show has two different versions of Danny, Lacey and Jo as kids.
He is half-Indian from his father and half-Caucasian from his mother.
His grandmother lives in Arizona.
Jo is in love with him and he is unaware until Poison of Interest but he is revealed to be in love with her as well in Danny, Interrupted.
He found out about Jo being in love with him in Out With The In-Crowd but he tells her that he could never risk their friendship and make it go to far until he realized that he does indeed have feelings for her in Danny, Interrupted.
He is revealed to have shared a bunk in juvie with Charlie 5 years ago.
He accidentally "kills" his father in self defense for Jo and himself.
He and Lacey get back together in Home Is Where the Hurt Is after he apologizes/kisses her for acting like such a jerk at homecoming.
He and Lacey break up in The Son Also Falls after she accuses him of having feelings for Jo.
Charlie is revealed to want his life and have a long time crush on Jo in Danny, Interrupted.
He is revealed to have feelings for Jo in Danny, Interrupted.
He and Charlie used to be good friends in juvie and he is revealed to be his cousin from his aunt's side in The Tale of Two Confessions.
He confesses to Jo his feelings for her in The Tale of Two Confessions and that he thought he was ok with them being friends but was wrong and wants to be more.